Smelter



Oct. 30, V1945.

F. G. VsHAUxa ET Al. 2,388,092

SMELTER Filed Oct. 24, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 f6. @Mme c:- n c/vnrnjJNVENToR BY Caw, Q. 4 @6M Odi. 30, 1945,- l F. G. SHAUB ET Al. 2,388,092

sMELTER Filed 001.24, 1942 4 sheets-sheet 3 INI/ ENTORJ Oct. 30, 1945.F. G. SHAUB ET AL 2,388,092

SMELTER Filed oct. 24, 1942 4 sheets-sheet 4 INVENTOR BY M/z (1 yPatented Oct. 30, 1945 SMELTEB, n Frank G.'Shaub and Arthur E.`J'ennens, Detroit,

Mich.,

assignors' -to Ford Motor Company',`

Dearborn-Mich., a corporaton'of Delaware Application October 24, 1942,Serial No. 463,144

(Cl. B14-L30) Claims.

`This invention relates to furnace construction and-.loperatiom and,more particularly, to retort furnaces used in the production of metals.

`While the disclosure of this applicationmay be used under differentconditions, as a particular example a'furnace to be used in theferrosilicon reduction of magnesium is shown. This is essentially aretort procedure in which the reacting substances are placed in a closedretort, subjected to vacuum. or to an inert atmosphere. and heated tothe `reaction temperature, the products of. the reaction` beingsegregated `by condensation or other means and. thereafter removed forfurther processing. In the example, the reaction constituents arebriquettes of a mixture of ferroslicon :and a.- ca-lcined dolomite. Themagnesiumformed in theV reaction .is in. vapor form andeondenses in acooler part of the retort from which'` it is removed in theform ofreguline metal. The residue ofthe reaction consists of the briquettesin' whichsubstantial portions of magnesium havelbeen replaced by siliconand. which are normally oilsubstantially the shape Yand size as whenthey" wereplaced` inthe retort though they maybe slightly softer or maybeglazed with a slagfdepending upon conditions obtaining.- This process.im generali is. old. andy nocl'aim is made toit.l

.One of the particular diniculties of this opera tion is thetemperaturestat Which` reaction. takes placer., They are` highwell above2000 F'.-and the normal life of a metal retort under these' conditionsis very: short. liurther,- at the temperatures obtaining, oxidation orboth the exterior of the tube within the furnace andthe interior' of thetube while the same is open and being loaded or unloaded is a seriousproblem. Another consideration is that preheating of the briquette'ctchargeis sometimesv desirable before it is placed in the retort, bothtoharden the briquettesviand to bring them more nearly to' the temperatureexisting in the retortto avoid un'- even temperature distribution. Anadvantage of this invention is that the furnace design provides a'-maximum retort capas# ilty and `makes full provision-for the preheating'of the-briquette charge. The arrangement shown gives maximumproductivecapacity as measured against-furnace sizeffor a particularl Afurnacebuilding; and, moreover, permits the `use of' the charging andunloading' device; described herein in some detail, to serve a greatnumber of individu'al' furnaces. Another advantage isl that charging andunirn-ding` time isl reduced toa `mins murn andthe over-all productivecapacity per retort increased accordingly. AAnother advantage is thatthe termal efciency of the system is increased byutilizing whatotherwisewould be stack heat `in thebriquette preheating operation. Anotheradvantage is that by the provision of condensing areas at each end ofthe retort,` the length, through which the reaction products must'travel before condensation, is shortened accordingly and the tendencytoward reversal of fthe reaction is diminished. Another advantage is thesaving in operating labor and avoidance' of wear and tear on the retorttube.

With these and other objects in View, the in- Figure .4l is a front viewof the iurnaceshown,V

in Figure 1v.

Figure 5 is a; View taken as indicated by the line- 5-li` of Figure 2,thel gear case covers being removed and a portion of the carriage brokenaway.

VReferring to Figure 1, the smelter building is indicated generally asIll4 and in it are arranged two opposed banks of furnaces Il, therebeing a clear central bay I2 between the banks. Mounted in this bay isthe overhead crane I3 which carries the charging hopper I4 and thecharger I5; both the crane` and charger being movable along the baybetween the furnace banks. A belt or similar conveyor means I6 isprovided to supply the rawmaterials to theV charging hopper.

The furnaces I`I` which are preferably gasfi'red, although they may beofi` the molten salttype Shown in: copending application Serial 454,580,vinclude a; chamber If'I in which' are' mounted, in staggeredrelationsl'lip-,-k a number of tubular retorts t8- which have ends I9extending on the outside of the furnace. Closuresl are `provided foreach of the retorts so" that they may 'be tightly sealed and a .vacuumconnection: .2I- leads from the interiorfof the retort to suitablevacuum pumps which are not shown. These retortsl are mounted on rollers2f2f at various points along their lengths andso' supported, are freefor 1onother conventional heating means may be employed. Dump cars 29are provided along the front of the furnaces to receive the residue whenunloaded for disposal to pits 30. Y

Attention is now directed to charger I5 which ports 26 and brought tothe desired temperature. The charger I5 is then brought opposite thedoors 21 of the particular chamber by means of a movable bridge 4| andthe carriage 36 is raised by means of the hydraulic plunger 44 to theelevation of the preheating chamber oor. During this operation, ofcourse, the trolley 40 is located on the bridge at the far sideoi thebridge remote from the particular furnace to be charged. The trolley 4Uis then moved forwardly and the peel bucket 46 is scooped into thepreheated briquette i and filled. rThe trolley is then reversed and theis an essential part of the operation vof' the installation. It will benoted that the retort tubes I8 are in staggered arrangement, some ofthem being higher than others, and that their diameters are such thatordinary charging means may not be used. Further, after the reaction, itwill be found that the residue which remains is at a white heat and itis difcult to remove this caked mass. Provision must also be made forthe transfer of the preheated material from the preheating chamber 23 tothe interior of the various retorts. To effect this, ther chargerincludes the central column 35 supporting carriage 36, on which ismounted a peel 31. The central col'- umn is secured to table 38 which inturn is rotatably mounted by rollers 39 on a trolley 40. The trolley, asbest seen in Figure 2, is rollably mounted in a bridge 4| which in turnruns along the bay I2 on the rails 42.

The carriage 35 is mounted on wheels 43 which run on the central column35 and a hydraulic plunger 44secured to the table 38 makes it possibleto raise and lower the carriage at will.; The carriage also includes,partially as a counterweight for the peel, an operatinglplatformv 45 atwhich the Various controls for operating the charger are centralized.Thev peel itself comprisesa bucket 46 open at the top andj secured tothe tube 41 which is rotatably. mounted in a bearing 48 in the forwardpart of the carriage 36. A drive motor 49 is operably connected throughthe coupling E0 to the gear case `5I|..and the tube 41 to rotate thetube 41 axially,.as.best shown in Figure 5. This connection includesthepinion 6| keyed tothe driveshaft 52 and a meshing gear 63 secured to theextreme rear end of the tube 41 as it projects through the housing 55.

Enclosed within the tube 41 is the pusher r5I which'includesan-Archimedean screw 52,.having at its forward end a breaking knifev 53,as shown in Figure 3. Suitable provision is made onA the opposite sideof the carriage to revolve the pusher axially independently ofthemovement of the' tube 41. This, as shown in Figure 5, includesa motor45 mounted on the carriage 36-driving a shaft 65 through a coupling 60.A pinion 65.1 is keyed to the shaft 65 and meshes with the gear 61slidably mounted on the shaft 54 and. re-

strained from rotation thereon by the spline 65.

The pusher 5| has'a long rearwardly extending shaft 54 enclosed in thehousing 55 and atfthe rearward end is operably connected to a hydrauliccylinder 5B by means of which thef pusher may be advanced or retractedat the will vof the"operator.

It will of course be understood that theaxial rctation of the pusherisindependent .of .this lo-ngitudinal movement, as is the axial rotationof the tube. f

-In' operation, the briquetted vcharge is.. rst placed in a preheatingchamber 23 through the bucket withdrawn, the carriage lowered to theelevation of the retort to be charged and the carriage again advancedmoving the bucket into the retort as shown in Figure 1. Forward movementY is continued until the bucket is adjacent the rear end of the retortat which point the drive motor 49 isoperated and the bucket is revolvedaxially dumping the load within the retort or the pusher may be advancedto unload the bucket. The bucket is then withdrawn andthe same operationis repeated fromV the preheating chamber until the retort is filled. Inthe event that the'preheating is not utilized, the bucket maybe filleddirectly from the hopper I4. Thev closures'ZIl are then applied to theretortand the retorts are evacuated through the `connection 2| while thefurnace is heated to the desired reaction temperature. When the reactionis completed, the retort is again opened and the magnesium, in regulineform, will be found condensed adjacent the end of the retort. Thisisremoved and the unloading process commenced.

As stated above, theY residue which is still largely in brquette form,is a hot glowing mass and may be slightly slagged or coked into a fairlycohesive mass. To remove this, the carriage is brought tothe elevationof the retort andthe peel is positioned adjacent its mouth as shown inFigure 3. A hydraulic cylinder 56 is then actuated, which advances thepusher 5| into the retort.. At the same time, .the pusher rotating motoris operated and the pusher screw 52 is given a rotary movement whichlbreaks up the coked mass of residue Vand propels it rearwardly, as shownin Figure 3, into thedisposal car; This operation may be effected atconsiderable speed, which is important inasmuch as'it lessensA theperiod that the `interior of the furnace is exposed to oxidation. Itwill be understood that the retort at this timezis'still very hot and itis important toA minimize the exposure. yAnother advantage of thisparticularV structure is that the steel'bucket may beutilizedto someextenttorealign the retort which is subject to localizedzdis-f tortiondue to the strains imposed bythe load and the heat; and there isconsiderable power available to force thebucket through the retortandrestore it to proper alignment.; v l The operation of one furnacer hasbeendescribed and it isapparent that by rotating the table 38, the sameoperation may be carried out on the opposite bank of furnaces where, bymov-, ing the charger bridge, an entire bank on either side can beserviced at the preheatinglevel and each of the retort levels. However,lthe operation may be conducted expeditiously so that la minimum ofphysical equipment iswrequired to maintain a number of retorts inoperation. `Some changes may be made in the arrangement, constructionand lcombination ofthe ,various parts of the improved device withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and it is the intention tocover the claims such ,changes as may be reasonably included within thescope thereof.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a smelter charging device, a peel comprising a tube, a bucket atone end of said tube,

said tube being mounted for axial rotation, a screw conveyor enclosedwithin said tube, means to extend said screw conveyor from said tube andmeans to impart axial rotation to said screw conveyor.

2. In a smelter charging device, a peel, comprising a tube, a bucketmounted on said tube, said tube arranged for axial rotation, a pushermounted within said tube, means to extend said pusher from' said tube,means to impart axial rotation to said pusher, and a screw means formedon said pusher.

3. In a smelter charging means, comprising, a vertical support, acarriage mounted thereon for vertical movement, a peel supported on saidcarrlage, a bucket at the end of said peel, pusher means normallyenclosed within said peel, means to extend said pusher means from saidpeel, means to impart axial rotation to said pusher means, and materialscrew conveying means associated with said pusher means.

4. In a smelter charging device, comprising, a bridge means arranged fortransverse movement with respect to said smelter, a trolley meansmounted on said bridge means and arranged for longitudinal movement withrespect thereto, a supporting means rotatably mounted on said trolleymeans, a vertical support on said supporting means, a carriage mountedon said vertical support for vertical motions thereon, a peel carried bysaid carriage and extending therefrom, a bucket at the end of said peel,a pusher means comprising an Archimedean screw normally within saidpeel, means to extend said pusher means from said peel, means to impart-rotation to said pusher means.

5. In a retort-charging device, a peel means FRANK G. SHAUB. ARTHUR E.JENNENS.

